


unexpected guests

by Lise



Series: Remember This Cold [59]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Blood and Injury, Gen, Injury, M/M, POV Natasha Romanov, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), alternate POV
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-03
Updated: 2017-04-03
Packaged: 2018-10-14 06:32:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,921
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10530867
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lise/pseuds/Lise
Summary: Natasha is on the run and on her own mission. And now has two half dead friends (or, more accurately, one half dead friend and one half dead former enemy of ambiguous status) to take care of.It's a good thing she's adaptable.(Alternate POV for a bit of "the water is getting colder".)





	

**Author's Note:**

> So I was already writing the Sam POV fic when [191811110](http://archiveofourown.org/users/191811110/pseuds/191811110) commented to mention that they were interested in reading Natasha's point of view of finding Steve and Loki at the end of "the water is getting colder". And this being me, I was immediately like "oooh, more alternate POV fic + Natasha + getting to write more about a badly injured Steve and Loki = good times", so I wrote a thing for it. 
> 
> That's just what I do, apparently. 
> 
> Thanks to the beta, as always, for her tireless editing work.

Natasha lost her last tail somewhere a block away from her destination. She wasn’t exactly relieved - she’d known that she’d lose him eventually - but this way was less likely to draw (more) unwanted attention. 

She’d let the last tail get as far as the building out of curiosity. Natasha had no idea where he was now, but she doubted it was anywhere good; Loki might’ve turned over a new leaf, but the nasty streak was definitely still there. It still gave her a bit of a chill to realize how lucky she’d been that apparently Loki liked her enough that she hadn’t met the same fate as her unlucky stalker. 

She let herself into the building and took the stairs up. She’d had the address for a while but never actually visited, and Natasha had to wonder if that was why she’d walked by the apartment three times before she’d managed to actually find the door. Getting it open was comparatively easy, but Natasha had a feeling that wouldn’t be the case for just anyone. But that just made it the perfect place for her to crash when her business brought her to New York.

Nowhere safer than a paranoid ex-supervillain’s lair. She might’ve felt a little guilty, but it wasn’t like she was going to trash the place. And she _had_ saved Steve’s ass. 

She still couldn’t decide if that’d been the right thing to do. It hadn’t been the smart thing, for sure. Though maybe nothing would’ve been. 

The door unlocked for the key around her neck and she let herself inside. And bit her tongue to keep from gasping.

There were two bodies lying on the floor next to each other, surrounded by a substantial quantity of blood. Steve was on his back, Loki slumped on his side with his head on Steve’s chest and one hand partly covering the big leaking gash in Steve’s side. Still bleeding, Natasha thought even as she started to move, snatching a blanket off the couch. That was good, meant he was still alive. 

She moved Loki’s hand out of the way and wadded up the blanket to staunch the bleeding, but she couldn’t replace lost blood volume, and she had no idea if there was a first aid kit that included equipment for sutures. Shutting down questions about _how_ and _why,_ she turned to Loki - it seemed marginally more likely that she could bring him around. 

Even if there was...some kind of arrow sticking out of his chest and poking out his back that might’ve missed his heart but definitely not a lung. She could still hear him breathing, though. Faintly, and with a definite wet sound. 

“Loki,” she said. Not touching him - given their condition that seemed like probably a bad idea. “Hey. Steve needs you to pull it together.” His eyelids fluttered weakly, but no more than that. 

Natasha swore and went back to Steve. All the color had bled out of his face. “Steve,” she said, tapping his face, but there was even less response from him than she’d gotten from Loki. She got up and strode over to the bathroom, throwing open drawers and cabinets until she found a first aid kit including the equipment she needed.

_Thank god._ She suspected Steve was probably to thank for that. Natasha rushed back into the living room and found Loki trying to push himself up and largely failing. She dropped the first aid kit and hurried over. Sutures were good, but magic was better.

“Loki,” she said. He turned his head and stared at her blankly, plainly struggling to focus.

“Romanova?” He said, and coughed out a mixture of saliva and blood. She took a risk and dropped down to keep him from collapsing. He hardly appeared to notice, looking back at Steve and making a small, fractured noise. 

“Can you heal him?” Natasha asked. Loki shook his head jerkily from side to side. “Then I need to see to Steve before he bleeds out. Are you going to die in the meantime?” 

“Doubt it,” Loki said after a moment. Natasha took a half second to assess the truthfulness of that statement, decided it was either possibly lose Loki or definitely lose Steve, and went to see to Steve. 

The gash was deep, but Steve’s healing had already taken care of some of it. Natasha’s work might be ugly, but at least it would stop the bleeding. Just depended on if Steve had already lost too much. _Come on, Rogers._ The blanket was ruined, but she pulled one from the bedroom and tucked it around him before turning back to Loki, who had slumped back to the floor, his eyes barely slits. 

“What do I need to do,” Natasha asked. “I can’t fix a punctured lung, and if I pull that out chances are it’s going to get a lot worse.”

Loki’s eyes focused blurrily on her. “Need to take it out.” 

“Did you hear me at all?” Natasha said. Loki hummed, and then choked. More bloody spit dribbled out of his mouth onto the floor. 

“I can’t heal with it there. S’why I can’t...use my magic. Keeping me alive but can’t mend so it just…” His eyes slid out of focus. That made a kind of sense, Natasha supposed. Loki’s body was stuck in a feedback loop trying to fix something that wouldn’t fix. But Jesus, if Loki was wrong…

She glanced over at Steve. He barely seemed to be breathing. If she could patch Loki enough that he could work his magic on Steve even a little…

“All right,” she said. “I’ve never taken an arrow out of someone before, shockingly enough, so you’re going to have to talk me through this.”

“Break off the end,” Loki said. Natasha looked pointedly at the metal, and Loki groaned. “Oh. Yes. I suppose I had better…” He wrapped one hand clumsily around the shaft and grabbed the end with the other. She felt the temperature plunge, briefly, and with a jerk of Loki’s hand the metal snapped like a twig. 

Loki let out a low, pained sound, eyelids fluttering like he was in danger of passing out. “Loki,” Natasha said firmly, trying not to stare at the little broken piece of metal. Flash frozen, she guessed, and remembered the blue body she’d seen in Doom’s lab, radiating cold. Loki swallowed. 

“Now you - push it through. Or pull. Whichever is...easier.” 

_Oh boy,_ Natasha thought, trying not to wince. But she glanced at Steve again, and nodded. “Do you need something to bite down on?” 

“No,” Loki said after a moment. “Just...make it fast.” 

“I’ll do my best,” Natasha said grimly. 

There wasn’t enough sticking out of Loki’s back to get a grip on. Push it was, though she was going to have to avoid the sharp edges of broken metal. She took a deep breath, grabbed hold of the metal - keeping her hand steady, matching the angle - and shoved. 

Loki howled. Natasha dearly hoped there was some kind of noiseproofing, grabbed the blood-slick handspan now jutting out his back and pulled, as steady and smooth as she could manage. Loki swayed drunkenly, choking on blood.

_Goddammit,_ Natasha thought, but then Loki coughed and wheezed it what sounded like a clearer breath, and then another. Still wet, strained, but it was air rather than blood. He pulled away from Natasha to crawl over to Steve, fingers pressing over Natasha’s hasty work, a faint green glow sparking around his hand.

“That’s all I can - can do right now,” Loki said, but Natasha exhaled in relief. It wasn’t much, and he didn’t look _well,_ but there was some color back in his lips and his breathing sounded a little stronger. 

“Okay,” she said. “Okay. I should get you some-”

She stopped, realizing that Loki had passed out again. 

But they were both still breathing. That was good. 

“I leave you alone for a few months and look what happens,” she murmured, trying not to think about the rest of her friends, Clint, Wanda, Sam. What had happened? Were they safe?

_One thing at a time. Keep these two from dying, first._

* * *

Loki drifted in and out of consciousness. Steve didn’t so much as twitch, but if his breathing was shallow and his heartbeat weak both continued, and he seemed to be improving. Slowly.

She panicked once or twice when Loki started coughing wetly and hacked up a clot of blood, but he didn’t seem entirely surprised or alarmed by that development. Which was a little disconcerting if Natasha thought about it, but then she’d seen what Loki’d looked like when Doom had gotten to him. 

“What are you doing here,” he asked, surprisingly coherent. He’d dragged himself up to sitting with his back against the couch. She didn’t miss that he was placed where he could look at Steve. 

“Squatting,” Natasha said honestly. “It was empty, and I figured a magically protected apartment would make a good place for a fugitive to stay.” 

Loki considered her, eyes narrowed. “Oh,” he said eventually. And after another moment, “were you the one who fed Váli?”

It took her a moment to remember the cat’s name. She had dropped by, briefly, before leaving the city. And found the food bowl half full already. 

“The apartment was empty when I got here,” she said. Loki’s eyebrows drew together. Let him chew on that. 

“Steve should be in a bed,” Loki said after a moment. 

“You think you can carry him there?” Natasha said, eyebrows raised. “Cause I can’t.” Loki said nothing, to her relief. She wasn’t exactly sure what she would’ve done if he’d insisted. Let him, probably. He could be an idiot if he wanted. “I’m going out to get some Gatorade for both of you. Helps with the blood loss. I don’t need to tell you to stay put, do I?” 

“No,” Loki said wearily. “You do not.” 

Of course, when she came back Steve was in bed and Loki was on the couch, either passed out or asleep. She was a little surprised that he hadn’t stayed with Steve, but supposed maybe there’d been some idea that he should be guarding the door. Natasha shook her head, grimacing. 

Idiots. 

* * *

Natasha waited at a coffee shop until she was sure her guests would be gone, and then went back. It was still a mess, unsurprisingly; blood on the floor, two ruined towels, more blood on the sheets where Steve had leaked. Good thing she wasn’t going to be here much longer.

She felt a twinge of regret that she hadn’t agreed to go back. It would’ve been...good. To see everyone. She wanted to tell Clint that Laura and the kids were safe. Wanted to know that they were all okay, that they’d...forgiven her. She _missed_ them. 

_Gone soft, Romanov._

But there were still things to do. She’d told Steve the truth about that. 

Her phone buzzed and she glanced down. It was Sharon: _target on the move._

_On my way,_ Natasha wrote back. She scrolled up a few messages and looked at the photo. Just a woman with short, platinum blonde hair, sitting on a bench in a park. 

A ghost. The last time Natasha had seen her, she’d been twelve years old, skinny and terrified.

She tucked her phone away and headed for the door. If Yelena Belova was here, that meant the Red Room wasn’t dead after all. 

Natasha was going to see it buried for good.


End file.
